87 reviews
An interesting vision of young men in war. The idealist, the shy and the playboy get to war. All will be changed by the horror of the conflict, not only with enemy troops, but within their ranks.
Lt. Christian Diestl's (Marlon Brando) sense of honor and gentle behavior clashes with the cruel, senseless attitude of his superior, Capt. Hardenberg, realistically played by Maximilian Schell.
Private Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) a shy unassuming Jewish boy becomes a courageous soldier, opposing both enemy soldiers and the bigotry of their comrades.
Private Withacre, a playboy who tries to avoid duty (Dean Martin), finally ends up resigning a safe post to join the fighting in Normandy, and becoming a soldier.
The usual Black and White shooting enhances the cruelty of WWII. If you find it, don't miss this performance by great actors.
Lt. Christian Diestl's (Marlon Brando) sense of honor and gentle behavior clashes with the cruel, senseless attitude of his superior, Capt. Hardenberg, realistically played by Maximilian Schell.
Private Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) a shy unassuming Jewish boy becomes a courageous soldier, opposing both enemy soldiers and the bigotry of their comrades.
Private Withacre, a playboy who tries to avoid duty (Dean Martin), finally ends up resigning a safe post to join the fighting in Normandy, and becoming a soldier.
The usual Black and White shooting enhances the cruelty of WWII. If you find it, don't miss this performance by great actors.
Helpful•366
- juanmlleras
- Sep 6, 2006
- Permalink
Lt. Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando) is a dutiful German who finds the war more and more troubling. Meanwhile back in the US, Jewish Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) finds love, and entertainer Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin) try to avoid the war.
This movie is split in three. I find the Marlon Brando part very intriguing right from the start. A straight movie with just his character would be very interesting. Brando sets a serious compelling tone. Clift and Martin's movie starts slowly. Quite frankly, it starts as an old fashion melodramatic romance with puppy dog Montgomery Clift. Martin has even less to do as he debates whether to join the fight or not. The movie crawls along at times, and would probably be better served to just keep Brando. Although Clift has some minor drama. At 167 minutes, this is like 2 movies jammed into one. The connection between the stories is tenuous at best until the very end. It seems it took forever to get there. Once there, the point of the movie is made crystal clear, but it seems that it could have been done with a much tighter story.
This movie is split in three. I find the Marlon Brando part very intriguing right from the start. A straight movie with just his character would be very interesting. Brando sets a serious compelling tone. Clift and Martin's movie starts slowly. Quite frankly, it starts as an old fashion melodramatic romance with puppy dog Montgomery Clift. Martin has even less to do as he debates whether to join the fight or not. The movie crawls along at times, and would probably be better served to just keep Brando. Although Clift has some minor drama. At 167 minutes, this is like 2 movies jammed into one. The connection between the stories is tenuous at best until the very end. It seems it took forever to get there. Once there, the point of the movie is made crystal clear, but it seems that it could have been done with a much tighter story.
Helpful•223
- SnoopyStyle
- Feb 17, 2014
- Permalink
More than a passing resemblance exists between Clift's Noah and the Robert E. Lee Prewitt of 'From Here to Eternity.' They are both "hard heads,' determined to live by their own special code of honor
The chief difference is that Noah is not alone
Throughout the film, he is accompanied by a friend, who has a number of reasons to be against the war
Also Noah gets the girl of his dreams
He even marries her
'The Young Lions' retains its impact as one of the better films made about war... The combat scenes are limited in scale but brilliantly staged and photographed, with good direction of a complex script and a masterly musical score by Hugo Friedhofer
Director Dmytryk never misses an opportunity to underline how war comes into collision with the destinies of people When Brando encounters May Britt - as the wife of his superior officer, Maximilian Schell - she is the perfect image of Nazi vices: Corrupt, hedonistic, and, of course, condemned along with the rest of the decadent Germans Her hazardous beauty is used as counterpoint to Brando's enthusiasm and beliefs: She represents all that is bad and immoral while he is everything noble and pure
Dmytryk is less awkward depicting the relationship between Clift and Lange: Their Love is a natural condition They belong together Like Robert E. Lee Prewitt, Clift's Noah is ill-at-ease socially When he meets Lange, his reaction is clear, spontaneous, purposeful, direct He begins to babble a lot to make an impression on her, because, as he tells her later, "I was afraid that if I was myself you wouldn't look at me twice." But Hope was gracious enough to attend the guy The young nice girl has at last found her favorite kind of hero
Clift, who finds himself standing up for his rights and for principles he did not even know he had, pared his lines to the minimum needed to convey the essence of Noah Ackerman The prison sequence is a clear and simple proof of it The emotional urgency of the young couple is communicated through looks, small gestures, and soft and tender words of love and caring
Nominated for Best Cinematography, Best music and Best Sound, Dmytryk's motion picture is a moving and eloquent statement of how war collides with the destinies of people and hurls them into a maelstrom
'The Young Lions' retains its impact as one of the better films made about war... The combat scenes are limited in scale but brilliantly staged and photographed, with good direction of a complex script and a masterly musical score by Hugo Friedhofer
Director Dmytryk never misses an opportunity to underline how war comes into collision with the destinies of people When Brando encounters May Britt - as the wife of his superior officer, Maximilian Schell - she is the perfect image of Nazi vices: Corrupt, hedonistic, and, of course, condemned along with the rest of the decadent Germans Her hazardous beauty is used as counterpoint to Brando's enthusiasm and beliefs: She represents all that is bad and immoral while he is everything noble and pure
Dmytryk is less awkward depicting the relationship between Clift and Lange: Their Love is a natural condition They belong together Like Robert E. Lee Prewitt, Clift's Noah is ill-at-ease socially When he meets Lange, his reaction is clear, spontaneous, purposeful, direct He begins to babble a lot to make an impression on her, because, as he tells her later, "I was afraid that if I was myself you wouldn't look at me twice." But Hope was gracious enough to attend the guy The young nice girl has at last found her favorite kind of hero
Clift, who finds himself standing up for his rights and for principles he did not even know he had, pared his lines to the minimum needed to convey the essence of Noah Ackerman The prison sequence is a clear and simple proof of it The emotional urgency of the young couple is communicated through looks, small gestures, and soft and tender words of love and caring
Nominated for Best Cinematography, Best music and Best Sound, Dmytryk's motion picture is a moving and eloquent statement of how war collides with the destinies of people and hurls them into a maelstrom
Helpful•6318
- Nazi_Fighter_David
- Mar 27, 2004
- Permalink
I have seen this movie several times and catch something different every time I see it. Today is the first time I've seen it from the beginning. In the context of the time it was made, it was a bold statement about the human factor in any war. Brando shines and plays a sympathetic character who sees first hand the evil that men do in the name of patriotism.
Made at a time when the Americans that liberated the concentration camps were in their prime and there weren't any idiots running around claiming it was a lie, we see how ordinary citizens respond to the unthinkable. Brando's character stands in for the citizens of the Reich who claimed they were clueless about the genocide while the ashes from the smokestacks fell like snow on their towns. We see the horror and the denial.
It briefly explores a major taboo--interracial/interfaith marriages. It looks at racism in the context of anti-Semitcism (unfortunately still alive and well in America) and one man's courage in opposing it. Ironic this brand of racism, as the founder of the prevelant religion in America was a Jewish rabbi.
This movie is worth the 3 hours of time; it would make a great set piece with "Judgement at Nuremberg" which also showcases the talents of many of the actors from this film.
Good acting from all players in this film. It presages Robert Altman with the interweaving of the characters' lives from the first shot where Barbara Rush and Brando debate the merits of the Fatherland to the last scene in the forest where the end comes full circle.
Made at a time when the Americans that liberated the concentration camps were in their prime and there weren't any idiots running around claiming it was a lie, we see how ordinary citizens respond to the unthinkable. Brando's character stands in for the citizens of the Reich who claimed they were clueless about the genocide while the ashes from the smokestacks fell like snow on their towns. We see the horror and the denial.
It briefly explores a major taboo--interracial/interfaith marriages. It looks at racism in the context of anti-Semitcism (unfortunately still alive and well in America) and one man's courage in opposing it. Ironic this brand of racism, as the founder of the prevelant religion in America was a Jewish rabbi.
This movie is worth the 3 hours of time; it would make a great set piece with "Judgement at Nuremberg" which also showcases the talents of many of the actors from this film.
Good acting from all players in this film. It presages Robert Altman with the interweaving of the characters' lives from the first shot where Barbara Rush and Brando debate the merits of the Fatherland to the last scene in the forest where the end comes full circle.
Helpful•399
'The Young Lions,' flaws have prevented my liking it as much as I'd like to.
Mongomery Clift was too old for his role as "young man" Pvt. Noah Ackerman. Clift looks old enough to be the same age as the actor who portrays the father of Ackerman's beloved Hope. Also, the near-repetition of his 'From Here to Eternity' pugilist part feels perverse, excessive, monotonously voyeuristic. Those circumstances aside, Clift's performance finely communicates Ackerman's plaintive, good-hearted tenderness.
Brando's effort is solid, though I'd like to have seen more character development: we know nothing of Christian Diestl's upbringing in Weimar/Nazi Germany except for his revelation that he was a shoemaker's son who ran out of money midway through medical school. More could have been made of the intellect of a young skier whose medical ambitions were, in parallel with the German people's interwar ambitions toward a place in the world befitting their view of themselves, thwarted until their vile demagogue rode the wave of such ambition to utter destruction.
Dean Martin's work is adequate, but not stellar; perhaps a result of his playing the would-be shirker. In some moments his slender dramatic gifts exceed their natural power, but in most of his screen-time he seems to be coasting on his Hollywood persona's legendary charm.
Maximillian Schell's work is first-rate, but it seems to have gotten him typecast in later films as the rabid, or otherwise intrinsically flawed, Nazi officer - which he only managed to again turn into solid effect in 'The Odessa File.' Solid actresses Hope Lange and Barbara Rush aren't given much decent scripting to work with. WWII veteran-writers, the unsurpassable James Jones included, had difficulty portraying women characters: often their female characters seem stilted, if not downright stereotypes. Thus I suspect that 'The Young Lion's' screenwriters hadn't much in the original novel from which to develop its women characters. This also applies to Diestl's girlfriend Francoise (in fact, the most credible female role here is that of Simone who portrays, briefly but heart-rendingly, a woman in dread for her about-to-desert boyfriend Brandt's fate). May Britt, as the opportunistic, adulterous Frau Hardenburg, is adequate; but for her corrupt role the scriptwriters faced no great challenge.
Most preventing my liking this film are its stagey sets and lighting. There's just one superb location scene: the Afrika Korps's dawn ambush of a British unit; the other location scenes - especially of Ackerman's and Whittaker's infantry company - seem much too bucolic in the midst of history's most violent war. The other complaint I have, about this and other post-mid-50's WWII films, is that the women's hairstyles, makeup, and clothing are not of the 1940's, but of the later vogue in which such films were shot: this disjoints the viewer from belief in the period which such films attempt to portray.
'The Young Lions' script leaves much to be desired. It might have been more thoroughly fleshed out, from Irwin Shaw's novel, than it turned out to be. Its best-written scene is of Hope's father taking Noah Ackerman for a contemplative walk round the square of Hope's Vermont hometown, as it flourishes the only writing impressive in economy and power.
One glaring continuity gaffe, in the scene in which Diestl and Brandt meet Simone and Francoise: it's night, yet when Diestl leaves the studio-shot sidewalk table to pursue Francoise to the nearby riverbank, the cut shifts to a location shot made plainly at midday. Quite a few other interior-to-exterior, and vice-versa, scene shifts also detract from the 'The Young Lions' visual flow and credibility. One instance in which it succeeds is actually one in which many other WWII films suffer egregiously: 'The Young Lions' manages to seamlessly weave bits of actual WWII documentary/file footage into its narrative (in one moment, however, this doesn't work: the too-long sequence depicting the El Alamein offensive, which uses documentary clips but which also reuses Hollywood footage from, I think, 'The Desert Rats' or 'The Desert Fox'). This sequence is followed by the almost comical - yet intended to be tragical - motorcycle retreat of Diestl and Hardenburg, which is poorly done in rear-screen projection with the pair astride a bucking, but plainly otherwise stationary, motorcycle (which, by the way, is an American, not a German, bike).
One blooper I caught (but then I'm familiar with such details): after Diestl's African tour he meets Brandt in France, and in the exterior shot Diestl's wearing the old-style Wehrmacht officers cap sans silver chin cords, but when the duo steps into a building to continue conversing, in the interior shot Diestl's cap has magically sprouted the later cap style's chin cords.
An element of unreality in 'The Young Lions' is the remarkable survival rate of Ackerman's infantry squad mates - which doesn't reflect the grievous casualties suffered by U.S. units that fought from D-Day to the final campaign that ended in Germany. (Indeed, ETO commanders howled for replacements for their units' casualties; even the procrustean Patton had reluctantly to accept Negro units as replacements for his decimated formations - though to his credit Patton acknowledged the fitness and combat excellence of those Negro units, about one of which Kareem Abdul Jabbar has well-written a fitting history-cum-tribute).
Though some detail moments of 'The Young Lions' give the story enough meat for the audience to chew and digest satisfyingly, its scopic plot's enormous, world-ranging bones could not have been given enough sinew and muscle to have yielded thoroughgoing excellence, else the film would have run six or more hours. This prompts the expectation that a thoroughly-fleshed mini-series (are you listening HBO?) deserves to be adapted - much more closely and roundly than this 1958 film could have been - from Shaw's novel. In sum the major flaw of 'The Young Lions' is, despite fine acting efforts made on necessarily scant script matter, its failure to have met its ambition of capturing the whole meat of Shaw's story.
Mongomery Clift was too old for his role as "young man" Pvt. Noah Ackerman. Clift looks old enough to be the same age as the actor who portrays the father of Ackerman's beloved Hope. Also, the near-repetition of his 'From Here to Eternity' pugilist part feels perverse, excessive, monotonously voyeuristic. Those circumstances aside, Clift's performance finely communicates Ackerman's plaintive, good-hearted tenderness.
Brando's effort is solid, though I'd like to have seen more character development: we know nothing of Christian Diestl's upbringing in Weimar/Nazi Germany except for his revelation that he was a shoemaker's son who ran out of money midway through medical school. More could have been made of the intellect of a young skier whose medical ambitions were, in parallel with the German people's interwar ambitions toward a place in the world befitting their view of themselves, thwarted until their vile demagogue rode the wave of such ambition to utter destruction.
Dean Martin's work is adequate, but not stellar; perhaps a result of his playing the would-be shirker. In some moments his slender dramatic gifts exceed their natural power, but in most of his screen-time he seems to be coasting on his Hollywood persona's legendary charm.
Maximillian Schell's work is first-rate, but it seems to have gotten him typecast in later films as the rabid, or otherwise intrinsically flawed, Nazi officer - which he only managed to again turn into solid effect in 'The Odessa File.' Solid actresses Hope Lange and Barbara Rush aren't given much decent scripting to work with. WWII veteran-writers, the unsurpassable James Jones included, had difficulty portraying women characters: often their female characters seem stilted, if not downright stereotypes. Thus I suspect that 'The Young Lion's' screenwriters hadn't much in the original novel from which to develop its women characters. This also applies to Diestl's girlfriend Francoise (in fact, the most credible female role here is that of Simone who portrays, briefly but heart-rendingly, a woman in dread for her about-to-desert boyfriend Brandt's fate). May Britt, as the opportunistic, adulterous Frau Hardenburg, is adequate; but for her corrupt role the scriptwriters faced no great challenge.
Most preventing my liking this film are its stagey sets and lighting. There's just one superb location scene: the Afrika Korps's dawn ambush of a British unit; the other location scenes - especially of Ackerman's and Whittaker's infantry company - seem much too bucolic in the midst of history's most violent war. The other complaint I have, about this and other post-mid-50's WWII films, is that the women's hairstyles, makeup, and clothing are not of the 1940's, but of the later vogue in which such films were shot: this disjoints the viewer from belief in the period which such films attempt to portray.
'The Young Lions' script leaves much to be desired. It might have been more thoroughly fleshed out, from Irwin Shaw's novel, than it turned out to be. Its best-written scene is of Hope's father taking Noah Ackerman for a contemplative walk round the square of Hope's Vermont hometown, as it flourishes the only writing impressive in economy and power.
One glaring continuity gaffe, in the scene in which Diestl and Brandt meet Simone and Francoise: it's night, yet when Diestl leaves the studio-shot sidewalk table to pursue Francoise to the nearby riverbank, the cut shifts to a location shot made plainly at midday. Quite a few other interior-to-exterior, and vice-versa, scene shifts also detract from the 'The Young Lions' visual flow and credibility. One instance in which it succeeds is actually one in which many other WWII films suffer egregiously: 'The Young Lions' manages to seamlessly weave bits of actual WWII documentary/file footage into its narrative (in one moment, however, this doesn't work: the too-long sequence depicting the El Alamein offensive, which uses documentary clips but which also reuses Hollywood footage from, I think, 'The Desert Rats' or 'The Desert Fox'). This sequence is followed by the almost comical - yet intended to be tragical - motorcycle retreat of Diestl and Hardenburg, which is poorly done in rear-screen projection with the pair astride a bucking, but plainly otherwise stationary, motorcycle (which, by the way, is an American, not a German, bike).
One blooper I caught (but then I'm familiar with such details): after Diestl's African tour he meets Brandt in France, and in the exterior shot Diestl's wearing the old-style Wehrmacht officers cap sans silver chin cords, but when the duo steps into a building to continue conversing, in the interior shot Diestl's cap has magically sprouted the later cap style's chin cords.
An element of unreality in 'The Young Lions' is the remarkable survival rate of Ackerman's infantry squad mates - which doesn't reflect the grievous casualties suffered by U.S. units that fought from D-Day to the final campaign that ended in Germany. (Indeed, ETO commanders howled for replacements for their units' casualties; even the procrustean Patton had reluctantly to accept Negro units as replacements for his decimated formations - though to his credit Patton acknowledged the fitness and combat excellence of those Negro units, about one of which Kareem Abdul Jabbar has well-written a fitting history-cum-tribute).
Though some detail moments of 'The Young Lions' give the story enough meat for the audience to chew and digest satisfyingly, its scopic plot's enormous, world-ranging bones could not have been given enough sinew and muscle to have yielded thoroughgoing excellence, else the film would have run six or more hours. This prompts the expectation that a thoroughly-fleshed mini-series (are you listening HBO?) deserves to be adapted - much more closely and roundly than this 1958 film could have been - from Shaw's novel. In sum the major flaw of 'The Young Lions' is, despite fine acting efforts made on necessarily scant script matter, its failure to have met its ambition of capturing the whole meat of Shaw's story.
Helpful•4219
A long time ago, some time before the powers that be decided that movies should be made only to extricate money from children by catering to their base instincts and in so doing destroy our civility, the American Cinema was devoted to the art and craft of story telling. In these stories, life was often celebrated through the study of the character of the human heart.
In THE YOUNG LIONS, we experience masterful story writing in the screenplay by a man named Edward Anhalt who adapted it from a novel by Irwin Shaw. In this fine example of the final years of the Golden Age of Hollywood we see a study of character, ideas and humanity seen amidst the greatest conflict this Earth has ever known, WWII.
Here, we experience both the Americans and Europeans, including Germans. They are played as they really were, not as depicted by latter day directors such as Steven Spielberg and others who have drawn WWII Germans as silhouette, cartoon characters, all vile and evil. Here, they are shown as singular human beings with personalities, hopes and dreams really exactly like our own. The opposing forces are caught up in a madness that somehow swept across the face of this planet at a specific time, when really probed, for reasons quite unfathomable. This was also one of the peak film renderings of Marlon Brando, whom some feel is one of the finest actors ever to have graced the silver screen.
If you yearn for a fulfilling example of American Cinema at a time when it was a serious, respected industry, this is one for you to see.
In THE YOUNG LIONS, we experience masterful story writing in the screenplay by a man named Edward Anhalt who adapted it from a novel by Irwin Shaw. In this fine example of the final years of the Golden Age of Hollywood we see a study of character, ideas and humanity seen amidst the greatest conflict this Earth has ever known, WWII.
Here, we experience both the Americans and Europeans, including Germans. They are played as they really were, not as depicted by latter day directors such as Steven Spielberg and others who have drawn WWII Germans as silhouette, cartoon characters, all vile and evil. Here, they are shown as singular human beings with personalities, hopes and dreams really exactly like our own. The opposing forces are caught up in a madness that somehow swept across the face of this planet at a specific time, when really probed, for reasons quite unfathomable. This was also one of the peak film renderings of Marlon Brando, whom some feel is one of the finest actors ever to have graced the silver screen.
If you yearn for a fulfilling example of American Cinema at a time when it was a serious, respected industry, this is one for you to see.
Helpful•10924
"The Young Lions" was one those big Hollywood war movies I remember seeing with my family at the local cinema during the late 1950s.
I saw many of those films and actually read most of the slab-like novels they were based on: "Battle Cry", "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit", "From Here to Eternity" and Irwin Shaw's "The Young Lions" - there just weren't that many competing devices back then.
I usually read the books after seeing the films and then became acutely aware of how the movies suffered under the censorship of the day. The novels often filled in some serious gaps in my sex education, but the films never did.
The story is about three soldiers: a German, Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando), and two Americans: Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) and Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin). The film follows their fortunes through WW2 until they cross paths at the end.
The film has a number of authentic, well-executed sequences shot on location. However these are mixed with flat, over-lit scenes shot on the blandest of backlots and soundstages - the interiors are particularly artless. Documentary footage also added to the lack of a definitive style.
Fortunately the action scenes open the film out. The most arresting of them was the ambush of a British convoy in North Africa. It would have touched a nerve with many in that audience in 1958 as our guys had been part of the British Eighth army and the war had only been over for 13 years.
One of the surprises in the movie was the anti-Semitism Noah Ackerman encounters in the U.S. Army. Monty Clift faced a tough enlistment in "From Here to Eternity", but it was even tougher here. He looked worn (this was after his accident in 1956) and seemed a bit too old, but his performance is the most affecting in the film. No wonder Brando was wary of his talent.
Dean Martin without Jerry Lewis was another surprise, but he was good as the soldier with better motives than he thought.
Brando's blonde, broad shouldered Diestl starts out as a fine example of the master race, but his journey through the rise and fall of the Third Reich makes him thoughtful. He is treated rather sympathetically in the movie, although he was more of a nasty Nazi in the novel. However they may have overdone Diestl's disgust at every turn.
I can see why Irwin Shaw was disappointed. However the film has its moments, and is still one I have no trouble watching every now and then.
I saw many of those films and actually read most of the slab-like novels they were based on: "Battle Cry", "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit", "From Here to Eternity" and Irwin Shaw's "The Young Lions" - there just weren't that many competing devices back then.
I usually read the books after seeing the films and then became acutely aware of how the movies suffered under the censorship of the day. The novels often filled in some serious gaps in my sex education, but the films never did.
The story is about three soldiers: a German, Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando), and two Americans: Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) and Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin). The film follows their fortunes through WW2 until they cross paths at the end.
The film has a number of authentic, well-executed sequences shot on location. However these are mixed with flat, over-lit scenes shot on the blandest of backlots and soundstages - the interiors are particularly artless. Documentary footage also added to the lack of a definitive style.
Fortunately the action scenes open the film out. The most arresting of them was the ambush of a British convoy in North Africa. It would have touched a nerve with many in that audience in 1958 as our guys had been part of the British Eighth army and the war had only been over for 13 years.
One of the surprises in the movie was the anti-Semitism Noah Ackerman encounters in the U.S. Army. Monty Clift faced a tough enlistment in "From Here to Eternity", but it was even tougher here. He looked worn (this was after his accident in 1956) and seemed a bit too old, but his performance is the most affecting in the film. No wonder Brando was wary of his talent.
Dean Martin without Jerry Lewis was another surprise, but he was good as the soldier with better motives than he thought.
Brando's blonde, broad shouldered Diestl starts out as a fine example of the master race, but his journey through the rise and fall of the Third Reich makes him thoughtful. He is treated rather sympathetically in the movie, although he was more of a nasty Nazi in the novel. However they may have overdone Diestl's disgust at every turn.
I can see why Irwin Shaw was disappointed. However the film has its moments, and is still one I have no trouble watching every now and then.
Helpful•123
I've always liked The Young Lions because it has the best explanation for the phenomenon that was Nazism in Germany. Always the question is asked how did they come to power? At the beginning with Marlon Brando romancing vacationing Barbara Rush in Bavaria on New Year's Eve, he provides one of the most lucid explanations of why people would choose to follow Adolph Hitler. It is one of Brando's finest moments on screen.
At the time of course he didn't know he was romancing the main squeeze of Dean Martin who with Montgomery Clift play the two American soldiers who's stories and growth as human beings is told. Martin is a Broadway musical comedy entertainer and Clift is just a department store clerk at Macy's who meet by chance at the draft board. Martin is trying to dodge the draft, Clift is fatalistically accepting what comes. Martin proves to be a man of far more character than we first think. Clift is a Jew and a man who with enough reason to be going to war against Hitler, has to deal with anti-Semitism here in America.
Clift and Martin's stories are told alternately with that of Brando and also Maximilian Schell. This was Schell's first appearance in an American production and he scores well as a proud Nazi officer. Let us just say that he gets quite a comeuppance all around during the course of this war he was so proud to be part of.
The two male actors who are always cited as the rebel heroes of post World War II America are Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Too bad in their one film together they didn't exchange any dialog. Still I can't praise a film like The Young Lions too highly.
At the time of course he didn't know he was romancing the main squeeze of Dean Martin who with Montgomery Clift play the two American soldiers who's stories and growth as human beings is told. Martin is a Broadway musical comedy entertainer and Clift is just a department store clerk at Macy's who meet by chance at the draft board. Martin is trying to dodge the draft, Clift is fatalistically accepting what comes. Martin proves to be a man of far more character than we first think. Clift is a Jew and a man who with enough reason to be going to war against Hitler, has to deal with anti-Semitism here in America.
Clift and Martin's stories are told alternately with that of Brando and also Maximilian Schell. This was Schell's first appearance in an American production and he scores well as a proud Nazi officer. Let us just say that he gets quite a comeuppance all around during the course of this war he was so proud to be part of.
The two male actors who are always cited as the rebel heroes of post World War II America are Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Too bad in their one film together they didn't exchange any dialog. Still I can't praise a film like The Young Lions too highly.
Helpful•7417
- bkoganbing
- May 9, 2005
- Permalink
I did catch myself laughing in a couple of moments and I stopped, surprised at my own reaction. What was I laughing about? Marlon Brando for starters, his performance has the makings of a great comic creation. A relative of Cloris Leachman's Nurse Diesel in "High Axiety" The film was released in 1958, seven years after "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Brando was not only a huge star but already something of an icon. I'm trying to find out what the reaction to this performance was in its day. I thought it was outrageous, entertaining but outrageous. Montgomery Clift, a year after his nearly fatal accident shows the signs of the tragedy all over his face. Brando and Clift were the the most revolutionary actors of their generations but here they don't have a scene together. Clift plays the meek Jewish soldier that becomes a hero and he manages to be believable under the most unbelievable circumstances. Maximilian Schell, three years before his Oscar winning turn in "Judgement At Neuremberg" dominates every scene he is in. He has a scene, escaping in a motorbike with Brando that could easily have become a Saturday Night Live sketch but the intention, clearly was quite different. The biggest surprises are Dean Martin and Barbara Rush. Martin is movingly real and Rush injects a very welcome element of truth and survives triumphantly some of the impossible dialogue. I also felt the ending was unexpected and rushed. All together an oddity worth watching for the cast alone.
Helpful•2712
- littlemartinarocena
- May 10, 2009
- Permalink
A movie that truly puts character above all else, this film examines three men and the common threads - more often than anything, the women - that bring them together. Bold statements on individuals' approach and reasons for war are nestled into realistic and moving dialogue. While an anti-war film, it is a fair and even-handed approach to the subject matter that lets you see things through the characters' eyes and lives, and lets an audience make up their own mind on things. This is not to say it is a strictly intellectual film, but the action is not as visceral as recent war films. Because of the directors' involvement with the HUAC, this movie was ignored in 1958 and fell into relative obscurity, but deserves to be rediscovered. I read the book after the film, and found the two together to be an incredibly stimulating lesson in film, literature, and life. See this movie.
Helpful•3916
The impact of love , war and death on young lives is the focus of this moving drama of War told from the American and German points of view . As a disilussionated Nazi officer , Marlon Brando , sensively considers the belief that Hitler would save Germany , but then things go wrong , as his concience troubles are disturbing him more and more until he can no longer shut his eyes to atrocities committed in the name of the Third Reich . Meanwhile Montgomery Clift enlists the Army and along with the brasher of the Americans , Dean Martin , make good friends throughout the violent war .
An atractive and spectacular warlike movie with outstanding interpretations , thrills , impressive battle scenes , emotion and various love stories . It displays a star-studded cast with the best actors by the time . Based on a famous bestseller written by Irwin Shaw with script by Edward Anhalt who along with Marlon Brando himself remoulded the central role of the young Nazi Christian . A realistic anti-war film with enjoyable message , thought-provoking issues , and showing the horror war . Marlon Brando is excellent as the disillusioned officer who comes to question his Nazi beliefs . Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin are superb as two disparate GIs made friends by a common cause , and the latter does his biggest work in his first dramatic character . They are well accompanied by an appropriate cast of beautiful women as Hope Lange , Barbara Rush, May Britt , Doris Doll , Parley Baer , among others . Adding special appearances from Lee Van Cleef , Edward Franz and special mention for the German Maximilian Schell as the ruthless officer whose wife becomes Christian's lover .
It packs an adequate and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Joe McDonald . As well as a rousing and sensitive musical score by Hugo Friedhofer. The motion picture was professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck . He was a good craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres and of course he realized various warfare flicks , such as : "Hitler's Children" , "Back to Batan", "Mutiny", "The Caine Mutiny" , "Soldier of Fortune" , "Behind the Rising Sun" , "Anzio" and this "The Young Lions". Rating : 7/10 . Notable and essential and indispensable watching for WWII enthusiasts . Recommended for fans of the trío protagonists : Marlon Brando , Montgomery Clift , Dean Martin.
An atractive and spectacular warlike movie with outstanding interpretations , thrills , impressive battle scenes , emotion and various love stories . It displays a star-studded cast with the best actors by the time . Based on a famous bestseller written by Irwin Shaw with script by Edward Anhalt who along with Marlon Brando himself remoulded the central role of the young Nazi Christian . A realistic anti-war film with enjoyable message , thought-provoking issues , and showing the horror war . Marlon Brando is excellent as the disillusioned officer who comes to question his Nazi beliefs . Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin are superb as two disparate GIs made friends by a common cause , and the latter does his biggest work in his first dramatic character . They are well accompanied by an appropriate cast of beautiful women as Hope Lange , Barbara Rush, May Britt , Doris Doll , Parley Baer , among others . Adding special appearances from Lee Van Cleef , Edward Franz and special mention for the German Maximilian Schell as the ruthless officer whose wife becomes Christian's lover .
It packs an adequate and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Joe McDonald . As well as a rousing and sensitive musical score by Hugo Friedhofer. The motion picture was professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck . He was a good craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres and of course he realized various warfare flicks , such as : "Hitler's Children" , "Back to Batan", "Mutiny", "The Caine Mutiny" , "Soldier of Fortune" , "Behind the Rising Sun" , "Anzio" and this "The Young Lions". Rating : 7/10 . Notable and essential and indispensable watching for WWII enthusiasts . Recommended for fans of the trío protagonists : Marlon Brando , Montgomery Clift , Dean Martin.
Helpful•41
`The Young Lions' is the Second War II presented through the participation of three soldiers. Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando) is an idealistic German, son of a shoemaker. He joins the Army believing that life could improve in Germany under the administration of the Nazis. However, being a soldier, he cannot accept `acting like a police' in an occupied Paris and requests transference to the front, where he has another disappointment with the cruelty of the war. Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) is a shy American Jew, a very simple man, just married with Hope Plowman (Hope Lange) and very discriminated in his platoon for being Jew. He goes to the war and leaves his family. Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin) is a successful actor who became friend of Noah while in New York and is also obliged to join the army and go to London. There, he decides to leave the office activity and join his platoon in the front. This movie is excellent. It shows common people being used by government in a senseless war. All the main characters are peaceful common persons: Christian is a very simple person, wishing to climb socially in life in a Germany without opportunities and is misguided by the speech of Hitler and pretty soon he becomes aware how stupid war is. Noah is also a very simple person, a salesman from a department store, who indeed wishes to be with his family and join the Army just for obligation. And Michael is a selfish actor and bon vivant, without any sense of patriotism and who is not interest in anything but to have his life back. These characters are put together in a stupid war, having to kill persons to save their lives and to obey orders, which they do not agree. This movie is an excellent perspective of the stupidity of a war. My vote is eight.
Helpful•4218
- claudio_carvalho
- Nov 18, 2003
- Permalink
I stayed up late to watch this movie and I regret it. Brando was awesome and totally believable as a German soldier. I felt for his character and the difficult choices presented to him. Maximilian Schell also did a great job as Brando's Captain.
The bad part about the movie was there were three plot lines: Brando's, Cliff's and Martin's. The other two guys stories were not interesting. I just kept waiting for them to get back to Brando. Because of the other characters the movie is way too long, just under three hours. I wouldn't necessarily recommend renting it unless you are willing to fast forward past the Cliff's and Martin's stories.
The bad part about the movie was there were three plot lines: Brando's, Cliff's and Martin's. The other two guys stories were not interesting. I just kept waiting for them to get back to Brando. Because of the other characters the movie is way too long, just under three hours. I wouldn't necessarily recommend renting it unless you are willing to fast forward past the Cliff's and Martin's stories.
Helpful•1210
This is a pretty good movie, with two first rate actors (Brando and Clift), and if it hadn't been based on a first rate book by best-selling author Irwin Shaw, I'd have rated it a bit higher. I realize that a movie is not a book, but when a book has high merit and a distinctive character, and is then bowdlerized in typical Hollywood fashion, the resulting film cannot just be judged on its own merits.
Shaw's book is considered one of the great WW2 novels (though many "elite" critics have characteristically dissed him because his books were popular), but it's more accurate to think of it as a book about anti-Semitism set in the context of America's war with Germany, than as simply a war novel. At the same time, The Young Lions is a long book, indeed, an epic, rich in both incident and observed detail, with many well realized episodes of combat and wartime crime, barbarity, and horror. It's a story of three young men of disparate backgrounds (ironically dubbed "young lions"), two Americans and one German, drawn together by fate, much like the characters in War and Peace, which this book resembles in many ways, though it has more focused themes.
All three of these men are in their own way exceptional, and they rather epitomize than typify certain elements of the cultures they represent.
The German, Christian Diestl, is meant, both in the book and the movie, to represent the mythic "good German". Diestl is good looking, attractive to women, and athletic (an expert skier and part time ski instructor), and he is reasonably well-mannered, well-educated, and cultured in the Germanic mode, though he is no intellectual. Diestl is also, however, somewhat naively politically active, and is in fact (in the book but not the movie) an avowed Nazi, but only after several years as a communist, and given Hitler's persecution of the communists in the 1930's there's more than a suggestion that Diestl has switched allegiances to survive.
The American, Noah Ackerman (played by Montgomery Clift), is the typical, largely assimilated, second generation American Jew—not overtly religious, but introverted, intellectual, and subtly alien. In the book, he is called out to California to attend his dying father, a reprehensible man and a caricature of a refugee Eastern European Jew, for whom Noah feels only revulsion. After his father's death, he removes to NYC and obtains a low-level job there.
Finally, the Michael Whitacre character (played by Dean Martin) is a middling journeyman in the artsy NY theatrical business, loosely married to a more successful movie actress, and generally at loose ends in his life, and already tending toward dissolution in his early 30's. He too is attracted to communism, or at least to a die-hard communist whom he meets at a NYC theatrical party, in town to raise money from the feckless show biz set for the Republican cause in Spain for which he fights. Michael's problem is that he has talent but no character, and nothing that he believes in very much, including himself. As a result of his anomie, he is doing what he can to evade the war, and the inevitable duty that he feels as a man and citizen, yet he's not really a coward, any more than the next man of imagination.
If these thumbnails already seem a bit different from their opposite numbers in the movie—more complex and problematic—I am here to tell those who haven't read the book that their significant evolutions in the course Shaw's epic, through seven wartime years (horribly telescoped in the movie) are vastly different from the realizations of these characters in this rather routine Hollywood WW2 movie, despite the distinguished acting by Clift and Brando.
I've hardly broached the deliberate sanitizing of the book's major theme, anti-Semitism, American as well as German, which is at most hinted at in the movie. For starters, Whitacre's half-hearted show business infatuation with communism, and Diestl's overt Naziism, and earlier communist background have been scrubbed from the movie by its Hollywood creators, who were at the time living through the HUAC and McCarthy era. Also, the overt American anti-Semitism that Noah encounters, the loathsome caricature of his dying Jewish father, etc. have all been meticulously expunged or retouched. I don't remember a single word or phrase suggestive of American anti-Semitism being uttered beyond the one time identification of Noah as a Jew.
But the evisceration of one of the book's major themes, pervasive anti-Semitism, isn't the only unforgivable distortion. Shaw's novel has also been largely gutted of its character development. In the book, we have three young men of different backgrounds being sucked into a common war between their countries and cultures, but each is primarily fighting his own personal war: Noah, provoked by discrimination he encounters in the army, is intent on proving that he is a better man and soldier than those of his fellows who despise him as a Jew; Michael, to become a man in the larger senses of the word; and Diestl to measure up to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Hardenburg, a German superman.
In the movie, Michael's only issue is to prove that he's not a coward; Noah that he's a regular American guy, despite his somewhat exotic and intellectual bent; and Diestl that he's still a decent person despite the horrors he has experienced as a dutiful German soldier. At the end of the movie, Diestl is ground down by war, but morally he has hardly evolved at all, yet in the book he slowly degenerates into a monster.
The book is far darker and disturbing, but also more absorbing and rewarding, than the movie, as one becomes invested in each of these characters, their personal crises, and their ultimate fates, and for those who have a taste for old-fashioned adult fiction on the grand scale, my recommendation is to read the book and skip the movie.
Shaw's book is considered one of the great WW2 novels (though many "elite" critics have characteristically dissed him because his books were popular), but it's more accurate to think of it as a book about anti-Semitism set in the context of America's war with Germany, than as simply a war novel. At the same time, The Young Lions is a long book, indeed, an epic, rich in both incident and observed detail, with many well realized episodes of combat and wartime crime, barbarity, and horror. It's a story of three young men of disparate backgrounds (ironically dubbed "young lions"), two Americans and one German, drawn together by fate, much like the characters in War and Peace, which this book resembles in many ways, though it has more focused themes.
All three of these men are in their own way exceptional, and they rather epitomize than typify certain elements of the cultures they represent.
The German, Christian Diestl, is meant, both in the book and the movie, to represent the mythic "good German". Diestl is good looking, attractive to women, and athletic (an expert skier and part time ski instructor), and he is reasonably well-mannered, well-educated, and cultured in the Germanic mode, though he is no intellectual. Diestl is also, however, somewhat naively politically active, and is in fact (in the book but not the movie) an avowed Nazi, but only after several years as a communist, and given Hitler's persecution of the communists in the 1930's there's more than a suggestion that Diestl has switched allegiances to survive.
The American, Noah Ackerman (played by Montgomery Clift), is the typical, largely assimilated, second generation American Jew—not overtly religious, but introverted, intellectual, and subtly alien. In the book, he is called out to California to attend his dying father, a reprehensible man and a caricature of a refugee Eastern European Jew, for whom Noah feels only revulsion. After his father's death, he removes to NYC and obtains a low-level job there.
Finally, the Michael Whitacre character (played by Dean Martin) is a middling journeyman in the artsy NY theatrical business, loosely married to a more successful movie actress, and generally at loose ends in his life, and already tending toward dissolution in his early 30's. He too is attracted to communism, or at least to a die-hard communist whom he meets at a NYC theatrical party, in town to raise money from the feckless show biz set for the Republican cause in Spain for which he fights. Michael's problem is that he has talent but no character, and nothing that he believes in very much, including himself. As a result of his anomie, he is doing what he can to evade the war, and the inevitable duty that he feels as a man and citizen, yet he's not really a coward, any more than the next man of imagination.
If these thumbnails already seem a bit different from their opposite numbers in the movie—more complex and problematic—I am here to tell those who haven't read the book that their significant evolutions in the course Shaw's epic, through seven wartime years (horribly telescoped in the movie) are vastly different from the realizations of these characters in this rather routine Hollywood WW2 movie, despite the distinguished acting by Clift and Brando.
I've hardly broached the deliberate sanitizing of the book's major theme, anti-Semitism, American as well as German, which is at most hinted at in the movie. For starters, Whitacre's half-hearted show business infatuation with communism, and Diestl's overt Naziism, and earlier communist background have been scrubbed from the movie by its Hollywood creators, who were at the time living through the HUAC and McCarthy era. Also, the overt American anti-Semitism that Noah encounters, the loathsome caricature of his dying Jewish father, etc. have all been meticulously expunged or retouched. I don't remember a single word or phrase suggestive of American anti-Semitism being uttered beyond the one time identification of Noah as a Jew.
But the evisceration of one of the book's major themes, pervasive anti-Semitism, isn't the only unforgivable distortion. Shaw's novel has also been largely gutted of its character development. In the book, we have three young men of different backgrounds being sucked into a common war between their countries and cultures, but each is primarily fighting his own personal war: Noah, provoked by discrimination he encounters in the army, is intent on proving that he is a better man and soldier than those of his fellows who despise him as a Jew; Michael, to become a man in the larger senses of the word; and Diestl to measure up to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Hardenburg, a German superman.
In the movie, Michael's only issue is to prove that he's not a coward; Noah that he's a regular American guy, despite his somewhat exotic and intellectual bent; and Diestl that he's still a decent person despite the horrors he has experienced as a dutiful German soldier. At the end of the movie, Diestl is ground down by war, but morally he has hardly evolved at all, yet in the book he slowly degenerates into a monster.
The book is far darker and disturbing, but also more absorbing and rewarding, than the movie, as one becomes invested in each of these characters, their personal crises, and their ultimate fates, and for those who have a taste for old-fashioned adult fiction on the grand scale, my recommendation is to read the book and skip the movie.
Helpful•174
- gimlet_eye
- Nov 24, 2014
- Permalink
Helpful•5516
The Young Lions, from 1958, has an excellent cast consisting of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Maximillian Schell, Barbara Rush, Mai Britt, and Hope Lange.
Directed by Edward Dmytryk, it tells the story of a German soldier (Brando) and two Americans (Clift and Martin) in the trenches during World War II.
Brando is Christian, a believer in Hitler, who becomes disillusioned with the war very quickly. He asks to be transferred out of France, but his commanding officer (Schell) refuses.
Dean Martin is Michael, a Broadway performer who isn't excited about joining the war effort. Clift is Noah, a Jewish American, who falls in love with Hope (Lange) and marries her before leaving for the service.
The film has a lot of battle scenes, and in fact, is too long. Dmytryk cut 30 minutes. He could easily have cut another hour.
In my opinion, The Young Lions doesn't really pick up until the second half - and I include in that the performance of Montgomery Clift.
This is post-accident Clift - he would not have been classified 1A. He is frail and he seems exhausted- later on, he becomes more spirited and gives a terrific performance.
The second half of the film shows the horror of war and the death camps, and what it was like to hear bombs outside your door.
Finally, one realizes - mostly through the Lange-Clift story - how awful it was to watch your husband go off to war, to not know if he will meet his child, dependent on letters.
I think for many, WWII has been romanticized. Nothing romantic about it.
Directed by Edward Dmytryk, it tells the story of a German soldier (Brando) and two Americans (Clift and Martin) in the trenches during World War II.
Brando is Christian, a believer in Hitler, who becomes disillusioned with the war very quickly. He asks to be transferred out of France, but his commanding officer (Schell) refuses.
Dean Martin is Michael, a Broadway performer who isn't excited about joining the war effort. Clift is Noah, a Jewish American, who falls in love with Hope (Lange) and marries her before leaving for the service.
The film has a lot of battle scenes, and in fact, is too long. Dmytryk cut 30 minutes. He could easily have cut another hour.
In my opinion, The Young Lions doesn't really pick up until the second half - and I include in that the performance of Montgomery Clift.
This is post-accident Clift - he would not have been classified 1A. He is frail and he seems exhausted- later on, he becomes more spirited and gives a terrific performance.
The second half of the film shows the horror of war and the death camps, and what it was like to hear bombs outside your door.
Finally, one realizes - mostly through the Lange-Clift story - how awful it was to watch your husband go off to war, to not know if he will meet his child, dependent on letters.
I think for many, WWII has been romanticized. Nothing romantic about it.
Helpful•20
"The Young Lions" is a black & white 1958 WW2 drama featuring Marlon Brando, Dean Martin and Montgomery Clift.
The film attempts to show the German, American and French sides of the war. Brando stars as a young German officer who becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler's regime and the world war he started. Meanwhile Martin plays a worldly Broadway musician who struggles with cowardice whereas Montgomery Clift's character is a poor, naive Jewish American who falls in love with with a winsome lass (Hope Lange) and fights the anti-semitic guys in his platoon.
Marlon's performance illustrates why he's considered the greatest actor in cinema; he's just captivating. Most reviewers note that Brando's German storyline is more interesting than the two American story lines, which is true, but repeat viewings grant the viewer more appreciation for the latter.
There are three stunning women featured in the picture: Barbara Rush, May Britt and Liliane Montevecchi. Rush is Martin's marriage-minded gal, who flirts with Brando early on; Britt plays the luscious sexpot wife of Brando's captain (Maximilian Schell); and Montevecchi performs as a French girl who initially insults Brando's character (because he's a German invader).
It should be pointed out that "The Young Lions" is not a war action film, but rather a powerful war DRAMA. Yes, there's quite a bit of action (France, Northern Africa, etc.), but the emphasis is on the characters and their stories. The climax involves a horrified and utterly disillusioned Brando, leaving a strong impact.
FINAL WORD: If you're looking for a mindless action flick this is not the one to see. This perhaps explains some of the less-than-stellar reviews. Yet, make no mistake, "The Young Lions" is without a doubt a WAR film. It's also a masterpiece of cinematic art, not to mention one of Brando's most mesmerizing performances.
The film runs 2 hours, 47 minutes.
GRADE A-
The film attempts to show the German, American and French sides of the war. Brando stars as a young German officer who becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler's regime and the world war he started. Meanwhile Martin plays a worldly Broadway musician who struggles with cowardice whereas Montgomery Clift's character is a poor, naive Jewish American who falls in love with with a winsome lass (Hope Lange) and fights the anti-semitic guys in his platoon.
Marlon's performance illustrates why he's considered the greatest actor in cinema; he's just captivating. Most reviewers note that Brando's German storyline is more interesting than the two American story lines, which is true, but repeat viewings grant the viewer more appreciation for the latter.
There are three stunning women featured in the picture: Barbara Rush, May Britt and Liliane Montevecchi. Rush is Martin's marriage-minded gal, who flirts with Brando early on; Britt plays the luscious sexpot wife of Brando's captain (Maximilian Schell); and Montevecchi performs as a French girl who initially insults Brando's character (because he's a German invader).
It should be pointed out that "The Young Lions" is not a war action film, but rather a powerful war DRAMA. Yes, there's quite a bit of action (France, Northern Africa, etc.), but the emphasis is on the characters and their stories. The climax involves a horrified and utterly disillusioned Brando, leaving a strong impact.
FINAL WORD: If you're looking for a mindless action flick this is not the one to see. This perhaps explains some of the less-than-stellar reviews. Yet, make no mistake, "The Young Lions" is without a doubt a WAR film. It's also a masterpiece of cinematic art, not to mention one of Brando's most mesmerizing performances.
The film runs 2 hours, 47 minutes.
GRADE A-
Helpful•167
One expects a lot from a star studded movie. Usually they turn out to be terrible movies, such as McKenna's Gold. This one is a good movie. It covers the lives of three different men during World War II, up to the moment they converge. Brando is a German soldier. Clift and Martin are American soldiers. At the time, it was heresy to say anything bad about Dino, but lately, since he's been exposed as a total ass, I feel free to say he was never a good actor, and was out of place in the film, particularly when the others performed so well. He never convinces us as a character, even a shallow character. When he is on camera, you know someone is saying lines, and it averts from the experience everyone else worked so well to achieve. Another fallacy in the film is the contrivance of the chance meeting at the end. It is just a bit Hollywood, but since it is the only real "Hollywood" part, it is remotely credible. There are some major scenes, mostly involving Brando or Clift. The scene in which Clift watches the resolution between death camp survivors and mayor, by Franz, is easily the classic scene of the movie, and one of the all time great scenes. I grade hard, so my rating means it is a good movie. A few flaws, but better than most. Would have been much better if someone else had Martin's role.
Helpful•86
- ianlouisiana
- Jan 28, 2018
- Permalink
I don't believe that Xanax and other more recent tranquilizers were available when this film was produced, but Miltown and others were. Whatever, Marlon Brando's performance proves that even Babe Ruth could occasionally go "0-for-5". His accent is effected and very annoying - he sounds more Arte Johnson when he portrayed the German soldier/buffoon on "Laugh-In," and even Arte was more animated and interesting. Thus, we can only conclude that either Brando was undergoing shock treatments while filming, or consuming "Miltown sandwiches" daily. Whatever he didn't consume, he passed along to Montgomery Clift, whose always laconic persona (appropriate in other films), was equally annoying in this flick. Finally, Maximilian Schell chewed more scenery than a horde of beavers could have consumed. A very mediocre representation of a fine Shaw novel. Would that the producer and director had viewed "Stalag 17" just prior to casting and filming.
Helpful•1110
Helpful•85
Helpful•31
- PimpinAinttEasy
- Apr 18, 2016
- Permalink
After the book I became very sad when I was watching the movie. I am agree that sometimes a film should be different from the original novel but in this case it was more than acceptable. Some examples:
1) why the ranks are different (e.g. Lt. Diestl instead of Sergeant etc.)
2) the final screen is very poor and makes Diestl as a soldier who feds up himself and wants to die. But it is not true in 100%. Just read the book. He was a bull-dog in the last seconds as well. He did not want to die by wrecking his gun and walking simply towards to Michael & Noah.
So this is some kind of a happy end which does not fit at all for this movie.
1) why the ranks are different (e.g. Lt. Diestl instead of Sergeant etc.)
2) the final screen is very poor and makes Diestl as a soldier who feds up himself and wants to die. But it is not true in 100%. Just read the book. He was a bull-dog in the last seconds as well. He did not want to die by wrecking his gun and walking simply towards to Michael & Noah.
So this is some kind of a happy end which does not fit at all for this movie.
Helpful•113